I hope you've enjoyed the ideas this week! We had a great time working with the line. The glossy accents on the papers and chipboard are too fun, the rubons go on so smooth you hardly have to rub them!LOL and the stamps are some of the cutest out there! I highly recommend the Teacher's Pet line! Thanks again to Imaginisce! Be sure to pop in next week for ideas using their Wild Things line!

And to thank you for popping in...how about a little Imaginisce?

Leave a comment..let me know a handmade teacher gift idea you have made or is on your list of crafts! We'll pick a name from the comments for this fun assortment of Twitterpated from Imaginisce and announce it next Wednesday, June 3rd!

Green is for the inspiration you gave to me each day,Blue is for your patience in showing me the way,Orange is for your warmth and your caring style,Yellow is for the way you could always make me smile,Red is for my life that you touched this year,You’re a very special teacher, like this jar - that’s clear!

Monday, May 25, 2009

It's that time...time for the kids to start wrapping up the end of school with tests, cleaning out their lockers and desks, bringing home endless papers, art work, supplies and more.

Before everything is done...I think it's a perfect time to take a minute to thank those special teachers. All those classroom teachers, special education teachers, reading teachers, librarians, office assistants, dance teachers and I'm sure you can all help me name many more!

We're excited to kick off our Teacher Appreciation post to let you know that all this week...Imaginisce has so generously sponsored us with their adorable Teacher's Pet new line! The line has something in it for everyone. Cute paper with ruler designs, hopscotch papers, glossy chipboard stickers, rubons that are tops in my book and the sweetest matching brads and stamps!

We'll be showcasing Imaginisce's new line all this week with ideas for gifts, cards, layouts and more! And I might just have some goodies to offer up...so don't a miss a post!

This little gift book came about as I was trying to wrap Eli's teacher gifts (a set of bracelets). I measured the pp to make the spine wide enough to hold the bracelet set plus a folded piece of cardstock to serve as the pages. I attached the pages by setting the cardstock in the spine, punching a tiny hole on each end, then threading some twine through and tying it inside the pages. This worked really well as I was able to do all the writing and Eli was able to decorate his pages before we put the pages in the book. For the pages, I had Eli tell me something special about his teacher on the front page, he drew them a picture on the middle pages, and I wrote a thank you note on the last page. The best part was Eli saying that his favorite thing about Ms.Danielle is that she calls him "sweetie pie!"

To hold the bracelets, I cut a layer of cardstock to fit the back cover, punched two slit holes near the top, and threaded a piece of ribbon through the holes to tie around the bracelets. The ribbon that ties the book closed is adhered between the layers of pp on the front of the book and the layer of cardstock on the back of the book. We made three gifts, so to tell them apart I punched some pp circles, wrote the names on them, then ran them through my tiny Xyron to make "stickers" out of them. Stuck those on the backs of the bag and Eli was able to give the right one to each teacher!

Trace shape of clipboard "clip" onto paper...trim out to fit around. Add a light coat of Mod Podge to clipboard and paper...adhere together smoothing out paper. Cut out additional papers to decorate board. Personalize with alphabet stickers for name. Stamp onto paper. Add rubons to bottom of clipboard. To ensure a long life for the clipboard..I also recommend one to two light coats of Mod Podge. Apply the second coat only after the first has dried completely. This is a teacher favorite!

For the candy jar cut papers to fit. Ink edges and adhere. Type out (or print) message in Microsoft Word. Some suggested ideas:

-Thanks to you I'm not a Dum Dum (fill with Dum dum suckers)-Because of you I'm a real Smartie (fill with Smarties candies)-Thanks to you...I'm not an Airhead! (fill with Airhead candies)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Have you ever heard people say that to discover your own personal design style, you might try looking your interior design style?

Yeah, that so does not work for me! I tend to create things that are simple and graphic... probably tending toward modern. But my home is a far, far cry from modern! The majority of the decorations are found objects from my favorite flea market (Canton!) or thrift store and lots of our furniture is handmade, handpainted, etc. Walking through my home you would find an antique refrigerator that stores our sodas, etc., old metal signs hanging everywhere, and an antique store counter turned dresser for our bedroom, among various other things.

I think I like this card because it's outside of my usual style, but in keeping with my other style, my home style. A little shabby, a little retro. Love the Girl Friday paper... it's all divided up into little pieces that are ready to cut up and make focal elements out of.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Thank you from all of us at Pursuit of Craftyness - you anniversary wishes really made us smile. We're glad to be able to provide some fun ideas for you. The winner of the drawing is:

Pegg S said... Happy Anniversary! Congrats! I found very useful the Watercolor pencils tutorial. I always color on white paper - I love the look of the pencils on the color paper - esp kraft. I have been trying to break out of my mode! I love the variety of ideas that you provide!!

May 1, 2009 4:21 PM

Pegg, I have sent you an email, so be on the lookout for it! Big thanks to all of you who let us know what you enjoyed - it helps us determine what to show in the future!